Just bought an Iomega CD burner. I needed an external unit that could be connected by USB cable, as I am using a laptop. I want to make compilation CD's for my car audio system (great system, but nowhere near the quality of my home hi-end rig). I used to be a DJ back in the golden days of FM progressive radio, and would do compilations on cassettes, when that format was king of mobile sound! I really miss programming creative music sets, even if only for myself nowadays. What is the difference in fidelity between using CD-R's vs. CD-RW's. Help me out here, Rives! Thanks in advance.

Well--you asked, but you won't like my answer: I don't know. I use CD-RW for back-up and transferring computer data files. I've never used them for music. I do believe there are differences--in fact I know there are in different brands of CD-R. That being said I would think that CD-Rs are better suited to the task, as they are not made in such a way that they can be erased or altered (not generally a good thing for music--well some music maybe). But since I have not tried this--I'm afraid I'm not much help.

If you are making CDs for you car, it really doesn't matter which one to use, you won't hear any difference. It is more important to find the format and the brand that is most compatible with you car system. Generally speaking, more CD players can play CD-R than CD-RW and the disc made by Yamaha and Fujitsu are higher quality (less data error).

Having said that, My suggestion would be to use CD-RW for test burning because they can be reused. And once you are happy with the result, burn the final version onto CD-R for maximum compatibility. I would also buy a small quality of each brand and see which one works best in your system and buy the cheapest one that works.

An important consideration is what program is used to rip the CD to your hard drive. Many people feel the best program is EAC, a free program. It can take some tweaking to get it to work right, but it's well worth the effort.

Also, I do use the Gold Mitsui CD-Rs as well. They have been the best I've tried. However, Arnie Nuddel, whom I respect has indicated the "black" CD-Rs are better. I have not tried these, but based on his endorsement they are likely to be worth it.

Fatparrot, with mw Iomega burner, Imation cdrs and Sony cdrw works the best. I did try other disks and got plenty of buffer problems with then. Sound quality they are about the same. Try Free RIP mp3, free download for ripping cds to your hard drive. You can put the bit rate anywhere between 96 to 256. The 256 does takes longer to rip, uses more hardrive and does have better quality sound. You will have to experiment with this.